


After the Rescue

by Persiflage



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Comfort Food, CousyComfort, Episode Tag, F/M, First Kiss, Grilled Cheese is a Cousy Staple, Mild Sexual Content, Not Deke Shaw Friendly, Not FitzSimmons Friendly, POV Phil Coulson, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 03:46:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14347317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Slight canon divergence tag fic for episode 5:17.





	After the Rescue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts).



> Written for the CousyComfort event on the [Johnson and Coulson](http://johnsonandcoulson.com/) Tumblr. Coulson tries to comfort Daisy after she rescues him and Talbot from Ruby.

“Daisy.” Coulson finds her alone in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee and looking like she’s really done with everything. He feels a bit done with everything himself.

“Hey Phil,” she says, her voice soft and he feels a little thrill – as he always has done – at her use of his first name. “Want one?”

He nods. “And I want – no, that’s not fair – I’d like you to tell me that ‘long story’ you mentioned.” 

He’s pretty sure he’s not imagining the way she flinches at his words, and he’s definitely not imagining the falsely bright smile she gives him when she tells him, “There’s actually not that much to tell. Fitz wanted me to close the rift properly for him, which meant using my powers on the Gravitonium, so he took the inhibitor out.”

He’s standing right beside her now and he can tell, from her expression as well as the tone of her voice that there’s a bit more to it than that. He touches her on the shoulder and says softly, “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there? Because you were pretty adamant before about not wanting your powers back, because you believed what everyone had told you, back there in the future – that you were the one who destroyed Earth.

She opens her mouth, then closes it again, and something flickers in her eyes, and he wonders, suddenly, if she’s just considered, then rejected, the idea of lying to him – and wonders if she’s remembering how mad she was at him for not telling her he was dying. She passes him the mug of coffee she’s made, then says, “Let’s go to my bunk.”

“Okay.” They take their mugs of coffee to her bunk. He’d noticed, but not commented on the fact, that Daisy had picked a bunk that was away from everyone else’s.

Once in her bunk, they sit side by side on her bed, backs against the wall, their shoulders and arms touching, and he feels glad of the connection – Daisy has always grounded him and he hopes he can do the same for her.

They sit in silence for a few moments, but he can tell that she’s gathering her thoughts before she begins to speak in a low voice, describing how two of the cameras had apparently gone offline, and she’d gone to investigate, only to be captured and knocked out. Then her horror on waking up to find herself lying on her side, restrained, on a bed as Fitz prepared to cut her open and take out the inhibitor in the side of her neck. He listens in a horrified silence, as she describes listening to her supposed friend’s rambling arguments and justifications for carrying out the surgery despite Daisy begging him not to. She doesn’t describe in detail – for which he’s shamefully grateful – the agony of being cut open and having the inhibitor removed without the benefit of drugs, although she does touch on her terror at the prospect of regaining her powers, a terror that had competed with the horrifying revelation that the operation might leave her paralysed.

By the time she’s finished, Coulson’s feeling sick as well as furiously angry, but he does his best to hide both feelings from her as he tries to comfort her, holding her in his arms as she sobs quietly.

“I’m so sorry, Daisy,” he says softly when her sobbing subsides. He can feel himself shaking with his suppressed anger, and she sits up then, looking closely at him.

“You’re angry with him,” she says, and she sounds angry herself, which is a relief as all too often she swallows down her own anger.

“Of course,” he says, surprised she’s commenting on that.

“No one else seemed to be,” she tells him. “May called him a supervillain, but then after I quaked his ass, she seemed quite willing to let him out of the pod to access the computers and whatever in order to ‘help’.”

He winces at May’s name, recalling what she’d said to him only a few minutes before he’d found Daisy.

“What?” Daisy asks, still as attuned to his moods as she ever is.

He shakes his head. “It’s not important right now,” he tells her. “I want to focus on you.” Then he can’t help asking, “You quaked Fitz?”

She chuckles weakly. “You always seem to wish you’d seen me using my powers when you only get to hear about it afterwards.”

“I’m not trying to fetishize them,” he says quickly, and she lifts her hand, stopping him.

“Phil, I know that. That’s not you, I know that.” She sighs. “What are we going to do about Fitz? And Simmons? He can’t be trusted at all – he’s dangerous, and I don’t want him anywhere near Robin and Polly. And Simmons seems very ready to go along with whatever he wants to do.”

“I don’t want him anywhere near _you_ ,” Coulson tells her emphatically. “I’m horrified that he thought it was acceptable to operate on you without your consent, and when you were begging him to stop. It’s plain neither he nor Simmons can be trusted – especially when she duped Mack and had Elena lock him up so she could free Fitz.” 

“It’s not Elena’s fault,” Daisy says quickly. “Mack told me she saw a future version of herself before we came back, and she thinks she’s invincible. Apparently Fitz and Simmons think they’re also invincible because Deke’s their grandson.”

Coulson can’t help himself. “Like grandfather, like grandson,” he says. “Fitz basically tortured you, and Deke sold you into slavery with Kasius. Assuming they survive whatever op they’re currently running, I shall have them both locked up, and interaction with them will be kept to a bare minimum.”

“Shame we don’t still have Vault D,” Daisy says, and he can’t help agreeing with that.

“I’m going to get you something to eat,” he tells her, suddenly aware that she looks and sounds weary, “and then you should get some sleep, or some rest, at least.” He reaches up and cups the side of her neck where a small dressing remains. “You went through a surgical procedure, then came flying to my rescue – I’m betting you haven’t had much sleep or rest since then.”

She shakes her head. “No. There hasn’t been time.”

“Well take the time now,” he says firmly. “I’m still nominally the Director, so I’ll make it an order if necessary.”

She shakes her head. “It’s not.”

“Okay.” He slides off the bed, and Daisy gets up too, then throws her arms around him, and he hugs her back gladly. When she pulls back, he cups her cheek for a moment, then says, “Let me find you something to eat. Any special requests?”

She gives him a hopeful smile. “Secret recipe grilled cheese?”

He chuckles. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks, Phil. You’re the best.”

He moves away from her, a little reluctantly, then lets himself out of her bunk and heads to the kitchen. He’s relieved to find it deserted, and he sets about making grilled cheese for Daisy, and heats up a can of soup, too. He sets everything out on a tray, adding a tall glass of milk, and some chocolate chip cookies he finds in a cabinet.

Back in Daisy’s bunk, she gives him an actual grin at the sight of the food, and he feels his heart soar at her expression. He sets the tray down on the table, then offers her a napkin with a bit of a flourish, and that elicits a giggle, which makes him smirk.

“You’re a dork,” she tells him, coming over and leaning into his side. 

He wraps his arm around her. “Guilty as charged.” He squeezes briefly, then lets go, although he’d quite like to go on holding her. “I’ll leave you to eat and rest.”

She shakes her head. “Stay, please, and tell me about Hale’s set up.”

He can’t argue with that request, so he sits on her bunk and tells her about everything he’d learned and observed, and between mouthfuls, she asks him questions, wanting clarification or inviting his speculation.

Once she finishes eating, she joins him on her bed, and surprises him with a one-armed hug and a brief brush of her lips against his cheek. “Thanks for the food, Phil. I feel a lot better.”

“Anytime,” he tells her sincerely, gazing at her intently. 

She’s looking back just as intently, and he’s not quite sure who moves first – he thinks perhaps it’s a simultaneous movement, but suddenly they’re kissing, and he can’t quite restrain a moan as Daisy’s hot mouth moves with his, her tongue sliding easily past his teeth. 

Afterwards he’s not quite sure how he gets from sitting next to Daisy kissing her to lying beside her on her bed, his hand shoved down her pants, and two of his fingers buried inside her slick heat as she kisses him while his cock throbs painfully.

Part of him – a really tiny part – thinks this might not be a good idea given that he’s dying, but the rest of him is overruling that tiny part, because this is Daisy and he’s loved her forever.

He gets her off three times and he’s just wondering whether she’d like to sit on his face so he can eat her out, while she’s busy unfastening his pants, trying to free him, when someone knocks vigorously on her door, and they stop moving for a moment.

They exchange worried looks, then the knocking comes again as Piper calls, “Daisy? Sorry to disturb you, but General Talbot’s asking for you.”

Daisy silently heaves a sigh, then calls out to Piper, “I’ll be right there.”

“Okay boss.” 

Daisy gives him an apologetic look, drawing her hands away from his crotch. “I’m sorry, Phil,” she says.

“It’s not your fault,” he says, trying to sound philosophical as he sits up and refastens his pants. “After all, I’m the one who brought him here.”

“Still, doesn’t seem fair that you gave me three delicious orgasms and I haven’t even gotten to touch you yet.”

He cups her face in his hands. “I can wait,” he says, hoping he sounds reassuring, because he does feel a tiny bit disappointed.

“Later?” she says hopefully.

“I’d like that.” He kisses her, soft and sweet, then presses his forehead to hers. “You get going, and I’ll take the tray back to the kitchen.”

“Okay.” She kisses him this time, not quite so softly, but still sweetly, then she slides off the bed and adjusts her clothing. She gives him a bright, hopeful smile at the door before she goes out, and he takes a moment to press his hand to his crotch, willing his cock to calm down before he goes out. 

Then he realises he has the perfect cure for his erection and considers, just for a moment, how afraid Daisy must’ve been when Fitz had captured her. As he climbs off her bed and straightens the bedding, then gathers up her used crockery, he considers how best to deal with Fitz and Simmons on their return. Then as he washes up, he gives rather more thought to how else he might comfort Daisy for what was done to her – he’d like to take her on a date, but that’s not really going to be feasible while Hale’s little pet is running around trying to kill them all. Daisy, he thinks, not for the first time, deserves all the nice things to happen in her life, and while he’s still around, he’s going to do his best to provide them for her. She deserves to be happy.


End file.
